I would say it's pronounced the English way, sounding like "aisle." There's also Carlisle's name...

The Portuguese word for "island" is "ilha" (which I'm told sounds like "eel-ya" but the "y" sound is barely there), so they wouldn't be spelling it "isle" if they were aiming for the Portuguese pronunciation.

Actually the only name which was pretty hard to pronounce was Siobahn .I'm from Bosnia, and I have no problem with those "clear" pronunciation like Aro, Marcus, Esmee... Actually in my country, Esma is very popular name, and it is pronounced pretty similar to Esmee

*Sometimes I wondered if I was seeing the same things through my eyes that the rest of the world was seeing through theirs.*

Wow, I never realised that was the pronunciation of Siobahn haha. I'd also had trouble with Quileute (I said Quil - LIGHT) so it's good to understand that as well. Otherwise I was sweet with the other names.

selle wrote:Actually the only name which was pretty hard to pronounce was Siobahn .I'm from Bosnia, and I have no problem with those "clear" pronunciation like Aro, Marcus, Esmee... Actually in my country, Esma is very popular name, and it is pronounced pretty similar to Esmee

It's funny, I had never seen that name spelled in the originial Celtic ever before reading BD last fall. EVER. (I had to google it as soon as I saw it to find out how to pronounce it and see if it was a real name.) Now, just a few months later there is a Siobahn on American Idol's newest season. I guess it is a real name after all.

selle wrote:Actually the only name which was pretty hard to pronounce was Siobahn .I'm from Bosnia, and I have no problem with those "clear" pronunciation like Aro, Marcus, Esmee... Actually in my country, Esma is very popular name, and it is pronounced pretty similar to Esmee

It's funny, I had never seen that name spelled in the originial Celtic ever before reading BD last fall. EVER. (I had to google it as soon as I saw it to find out how to pronounce it and see if it was a real name.) Now, just a few months later there is a Siobahn on American Idol's newest season. I guess it is a real name after all.

I was lucky when it came to Siobhan; one of my favorite novelists, Ian Rankin, has a major character named Siobhan Clarke (and she's a great character, by the way). As I recall, in one of the novels, she gives someone a tutorial on how to pronounce her name, or something like that.

"May the hinges of friendship never rust, nor the wings of love lose a feather"--Scottish blessing

I read books, then I listen to the audiobook for it. Often, I listen for the names, if they dont have a key in the book. I remember at the beginning of likling twilight, I was completly confused by carlsle. I thought it was car-l-sly

danobanano wrote:I never had a problem with Renesmee (Re-Nez-May) until my friend, and I'm not naming names but you know who you are, ruined it for me when she called herResume

Thanks a lot

Ahahaha! Now I won't be able to not say Resume. xD

When I first read Carlisle's name, I kept trying to say it with the "s" sound with it. Like Carl-i-S-le, and I thought it was such a weird name, then I watched the movie, and I was like; Ooh the S is silent! haha.

Another name I struggled with was Uley, I find myself saying oo-ley and Yu-ley. In NM movie I think they say Oo-ley.

I pronounce Nahuel as Na-uel with the "H" being silent, it seems to flow better.

I figured out how to say Quileute only cause I am originally from WA and have tons of Indian cities names you gotta pronounce and figure out how they are pronounced so...yeah. I.E Wenanchee, Sequim, Issaquah, and Puyallup.

danobanano wrote:I never had a problem with Renesmee (Re-Nez-May) until my friend, and I'm not naming names but you know who you are, ruined it for me when she called herResume

Thanks a lot

OMG that made me laugh so much!

I must have said, Re-nay-se-may, for months.(Imagine that you're saying it with a heavy southern drawl.) I still catch myself doing it sometimes, but "resume" is funny. It's also a lot closer than what I was saying! Nessie is so much better for me personally.